The Silent Secret
by Abiona Marchand
Summary: Relationships can be great, but why do they have to be so hard? When Huyana and Gad meet each other, they both secretly feel attracted to one another. That's not the problem, though. How will they convince their families that relationships aren't
1. A feeling of fear

Relationships can be great, but why do they have to be so hard? When Huyana and Gad meet each other, they both secretly feel attracted to one another. That's not the problem, though. How will they convince their families that relationships aren't all that bad?

**A/N: Just a new story I decided to write. Getting a little bored. Actually, this is one of those weird "spur of the moment" things. I just got a great idea and knew I had to write about it. I hope you enjoy! I'd like this to go places!**

**- Abiona Marchand**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own any of Tamora Pierce's characters, places, or any of the such that belongs to her. **

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Huyana Mayle stood in the burning heat of Alismut, located in the hill country of Tortall, attending the family horse, Calo. She brushed his ruffled hair smooth again. It had been so rough after her brother, Meteas, had ridden Calo home from the capital city, Corus, selling their farmed goods and any other merchandise they could give up for money.

Money was so scarce these days. It used to be fine, when they could afford to live. Now, though, there were taxes and bills they had to pay just to be alive. Yana didn't know why. All she could think of was how easy it was when she was young. Now, though, she was old enough to be useful and help ma in the kitchen, and help pa and her brothers in the field with crops and animals. Being sixteen wasn't all that fun. It was actually mostly horrible.

Yana finished brushing Calo off, and then she sat down on a barrel next to the small horse, wiping her forehead on the plain white, cotton dress she was wearing, and brushing her dark hair from her face. It was simply too hot to be spring. It was usually hot in spring down through the hill country, but never this hot this early in the year. Taking her sandals off, she glanced around their land, making sure no one was watching her. When she confirmed this, she tiptoed quietly away from the hay fields and behind a tree leading to the forest. As soon as she got out of ears reach, she sighed, and ran down the hill to the brook at the edge of Alismut. Pine needles and grass cushioned her bare feet as she ran, a smile sprouting on her face. She spread her wings like a bird, dodging trees and branches, pretending to fly like an eagle. She liked pretending when she was a child. Now that she was older, it was considered improper. Yana liked being improper some of the time. So, when she got the chance, she did.

She could hear bubbling water in the distance, after a few minutes of running, and knew she was getting close to the brook. Jumping over a fallen tree-trunk, she pretended she was a deer, running and hiding from hunters.

Smiling, she ran to the river-bed, and stopped suddenly. It wasn't a bad suddenly; the sound of water calmed her. She looked left and right, making sure no one else was there, then, holding her skirts, she jumped into the chilly spring-water brook, only ankle deep. She ran to the other side of the brook, and watched her feet as they came on alien ground. This ground was not considered Alismut. It was a different village. Yana grinned. Rules were people were not permitted on another village's ground without permission. She decided that she liked breaking rules.

Yana sat on a rock beside the babbling brook. The sun shone in her eyes. She squinted them slightly so that she could see the bright, clear sky. The day was becoming evening, the sun just set halfway in the sky. Yana knew she should be getting back.

"Ey, Yana!" A voice called from the forest. She spun her head in the direction of the voice, and found Pavelo, her oldest brother. Hurriedly, she jumped off the rock and ran through the brook, not even bothering to gather her skirts. "How come I find you on the other side of the brook at dinner-time? You know that's not permitted." He said with a cold look in his eyes as he walked towards the ashamed girl. Yana stared at the ground. "You should't have been over there. I could easily tell Ma and Pa-"

"No." Yana said suddenly, looking at her brother's nose, his lips, his ears; anything but his eyes. "Please, don'na tell them."

"It seems as though you should owe me som'mit if I don't tell. But, if you don'na have nothing..."

"What do you want? Anything. Just don'na tell." Yana thought, trying to figure out what he would want from her. She didn't have much.

"I want the ring." Yana knew what the ring was. It had been passed down from generation to generation of Mayle women. Her mother had given it to her for her fifteenth birthday, as did her mother's grandmother give it to her mother, and so on. Only, if her brother wanted the ring, it wouldn't be given to Yana's daughter, if she had a daughter. It would be given to Pavelo's child. But, thinking about Pavelo's personality, it would probably not be given. He would most likely sell the thing for any sort of riches; something that would make him wealthy. He was a greedy sort. "If you give me the ring, I won't tell. Is it a deal?"

"No." Yana said stubbornly.

"Well, you know what that means."

"I know, an' I don'na care. I wouln'a give this ring to you if my life depended on it." Yana started walking back home through the forest.

"Yana, you're so unruly. No way Ma and Pa're gon'na give you any justice." He said, following her up the hill.

"I said I din'a care." She didn't once look behind her. No matter how much the wrath of her parents frightened her, she wasn't about to give up her only value to her greedy brother. No matter how much her brother frightened her, or the rest of her family, she wasn't about to let that fear show through.

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"A heart stained in hate, a feeling of fear." -- Coheed and Cambria, The Crowing.

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**A/N: Sorry for the shortness. I will make it longer. I am really enjoying writing this, and I hope you guys enjoy it. Please tell me if it's good or if it's crap, and I will try to make it better, both ways. Haha. Please review!**

**- Abiona Marchand**


	2. Unruly and improper

Arriving back home was not pleasant. As soon as she walked through the door, her mother scolded her.

"Huyana, what happened to you, now, ah? You were supposed to help me hours ago. And where did all that dirt come from? How did you get your nice dress so beat up?"

Yana hung her head, trying not to meet her eyes, and replied the only way she could.

"I'ma deeply sorry, ma. I'll go an' get cleaned up, then I will help you." She helped her mother with preparing dinner - rice and lamb - and then helped serve it to her father and brothers. Then was the only time she was able to sit down.

Dinner was never the nicest time of day. Yana preferred early morning or late night. Dinner time meant discussing the days events. That was not what Yana wanted to do right now.

As her mother finally sat, her family started to give thanks to the Gods for the meal, and then they started to eat. Silence filled the small, cramped room. Yana felt completely uncomfortable. She pushed her food around on her plate.

"Meteas, how was Corus?" Her father asked.

"It was fine. Not'too busy. I was able t'sell only th'preserved goods, though. Th'fresh produce wasn'a fresh, and no'ne would buy any." Jed sighed. He knew it was hard to provide for his family, and he wanted to be able to do better.

"Any news on the Qaul family, Ingaz? Is there any way we can earn from them?"

"They would like us t'till their fields an' tend t'their animals while they are'way for th'week. They said they can't pay much, but they will try."

"Ah, there." Jed said. Then there was silence for a while longer. "Yana, tell me, what did you do t'day?"

"I-" Yana croaked. She couldn't get much more than that out.

"She went't the brook by th'edge of Alismut. I caught'er on th'other side." Pavelo interrupted. Yana shut her eyes. She didn't want to see the disappointed faces of her family.

"Yana. S'that where you got those stains in'your dress?" Yana's mother inquired.

"Yes, Ma." She said, her eyes still closed. There was more silence, and that frightened Yana more than ever. She found enough courage to open one eye slowly. Her whole family was staring at her in discust.

"Yana, you know that's not permitted." Her father didn't just say that, he said it with anger in his voice. "I am not at all pleased with you, girl. This hasn't been the first time this has happened. You're improper, you're impossible, you're unruly." He got up from the table, meeting Yana's eyes, and holding them there with a cold stare. "You're a disgrace to our family."

He left the table in a hurry, slamming the door shut. The family could clearly hear the sound of a door closing outside; most likely he had gone to his barn, where he spent most of his time.

"Yana, come help me with dishes." Her mother insisted. Her brothers watched her get up and take their dishes, all looking disappointed. Pavelo had a smirk on his face. He was pleased with ruining dinner.

Instead of helping her with dishes, her mother left her to finish them alone, and went to talk to her father. Her brothers were all outside tending to things or somewhere else that Yana didn't know. She was alone in the house.

When she finished the dishes, she went to her room. Her room was the only place she could be alone, if only for a little bit, without getting into complete trouble. She sat and thought.

Being a girl wasn't considered very valuable in Alismut. They were considered only good for reproduction and housekeeping. Which wasn't good news for Yana. Of course, her family didn't really like her anyways. Her father considered her a mistake. He never wanted a daughter. Her brothers didn't like her any better than her father. They sided with the man of the house. Her mother was the only one who loved her, even if she didn't show it. The only reason she gave her the ring to Yana was to show her that women were little of value, but the ring had made her feel valuable. The ring was the only thing that made her feel good about herself.

Her mother wanted her out of the house, now, though, along with her brothers. They were supposed to find wives and get married to them. Yana supposedly had an arranged marriage with a man named Daire Haleven. He lived in Corus, as a Master Sorceror, called Master of the Night. Of course, that scared Yana more than ever; to get married to a man she had never met before who probably wouldn't value her at all. Plus, he was a sorceror, and only the Gods know what he could do.

Yana fingered the small white stone in her ring. It was about the size of a fruit fly, not very big. She wasn't sure what the stone was called, but it looked like it almost glowed when she touched it. She smiled in the darkness, pulling a big blanket over her small figure. As soon as she shut her eyes, she fell instantly asleep.

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In the morning, she awoke just before sunrise, the noise of her brothers and father getting ready to go start tending to the field waking her. She gently lifted her head, and rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up completely.

As she made her way out of bed and outside her room, she crept to the stairwell, and knelt there, listening to the conversations of her family. She barely heard her mothers voice, coming from the kitchen.

"Jed, what're we gonna do with her? She can't be living in this village if she won't abide by their rules!"

"Nata, I don't know. I'll think of something."

"You know we can't send her to Corus just yet. Daire wants us to wait a couple more months." Her mother sounded like she was on the verge of crying. "I don't know if I can wait that long, I just don't know. She might get into more trouble by then, and then where would we send her, ah?"  
"Calm down, Nata. It'll be fine." Her father sighed. "If we can't think of anything, we'll just have to send her on her own."

"Jed, no, we cannot do that! She's not fit to go on her own. She's a girl, you know that they're vulnerable and worthless! Some strange man could take advantage of her at any moment if she's not careful." Yana couldn't handle anymore of this. She ran back to her room silently, and crawled out the window, making sure to shut it carefully before she left.

Outside it was still slightly dark, and Yana jumped off the roof and ran through the tall grass at the back of their house. She ran just as far as the barn and sat down on the same barrel she had yesterday. She sat there for the longest time, trying to think of what she would do when she was sent away from home - if she was sent away from home. She knew that she would be sent away eventually to be with Daire, no matter how much she didn't want to, but she thought that if she did anything else in the next month, she would be sent away from this village, never to return. She didn't really like the idea of that. She had nowhere else to go.

She stood up and walked towards Calo, stroking his brown mane, whispering quietly to him.

"You'd come wit'me, wouldn'a you?" Calo responded by nudging Yana with his small nose, closing his eyes and breathing out as she stroked his forehead. "We could leave an'ever come back." She stood with her face buried in Calo's mane, smelling his horse smell and feeling the cold breeze of the morning.

"Yana!" Her mother called, probably finding out she was not in her room. She jerked when she heard her name, and ran to the house as fast as her short legs could carry her, white dress blowing in the breeze, brown hair flailing, untame and wild. "Yana, where have you been? I need help with the cooking." Nata said as she stopped abruptly on the old, rotting wooden doorstep, a creak sounding and catching Yana's attention. Yana stood silently, not saying a word, looking at the floorboards, seeing bugs crawl on her feet. "Come, come. I need help baking bread." She disappeared behind the door. Yana stepped in suit behind her. "Oh, and your father would like to speak with you."

Yana stopped dead in her tracks. Her father was sitting at the table, staring at her. She froze.

"Yana, come sit." She hesitated, but obeyed. Her mother watched her sit down with an eyebrow raised, but went back to mixing in a big, ceramic bowl. There was silence. "Yana, what are we going to do with you?"

"You're father and I can't have you gallanting around like a child. You need to obey the village rules. You know that." Nata put in.

"If you don't smarten up, we're going to have to send you away." Her father's cold stare held her eyes. She tried to look away, but found she couldn't. "Do you understand?" She nodded.

"Now, go change for cooking. I need your help all day." She stood up and walked quickly past her father, who followed her to the stairwell, and tugged on her arm.

"Yana, don't do anything stupid. I don't want any trouble with the townspeople."

"Don'a touch me." She said, ignoring his eyes.

"What did you say?" He said, tightening his grip.

"Don'a." She repeated. He lifted her chin so she was forced to look at him.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that, child." His grip on her arm felt like it was cutting circulation off, and Yana's eyes were wide with fear. "Go." He said, letting go of her arm. She ran up the stairs, rubbing her wrist.

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"Choose your words carefully, because once they're out, they are not coming back." -- Travis Fraser

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**A/N: Hope you guys liked that chapter better. I am so excited for chapter three. SO EXCITED. And yes, I do plan on making a third chapter. And ones after that.**

**Give a big thanks to Travis for that quote. I think you'll be seeing a lot more thanks from that name from now on. He gave me a bunch of amazing quotes that I can use and I am so excited to use them. Thanks Travis!**

**Well, review, people. REVIEW.**

**- Abiona Marchand**


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